Great Northern Iron

Book excerpt: The Great Northern Iron trust leased its lands on the Mesabi iron formation to various mining companies that shipped 721 million tons of natural iron ore and taconite to eastern steel mills from 1907 to 2017 - nearly 15% of the Mesabi's entire historical output. The royalties received were disbursed to the trust's investors - nearly $400 for each of the 1,500,000 shares in the trust - totaling $561 million over its long life. The investors received their trust shares in 1906 as free gifts because they were stockholders of James J. Hill's Great Northern Railway (the predecessor of today's BNSF Railway). These securities were the first from a Minnesota business to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange.The distinctive history of Great Northern Iron is presented for the first time in this book. It is based on the Trust's extensive original archival records and in-depth interviews with its last trustees, managers, and other participants. With nearly 90,000 words and more than 160 historic photos, images, tables, reports, maps, and other materials, many of which have never been made public before, this book also features four specially commissioned large, fold-out color aerial maps and cross-sections that depict in exceptional detail the entire mining landscape of the 100-mile Mesabi Iron Range.Great Northern Iron is a compelling story about daring and entrepreneurship on the Mesabi Range and northeastern Minnesota. It is also an essential reference book about the nation's most important iron mining region. There may be no better source for learning about one of the vital natural resources that provided the foundation for contemporary American life.